03/29/2013
AHMEDABAD: Chief minister Narendra Modi may be planning a move to New Delhi to fulfill his political ambitions. But he should take lessons from the Delhi government on how to handle medical emergencies.
Delhi has reported 1,461 swine flu cases since January 1 but has allowed only 16 of them to die. In contrast, 150 out of a total of 818 patients of H1N1 have died in Gujarat till March 24. This is the highest toll in any Indian state, reaffirming the fact that while Gujarat's development model has a lot of hype, the state falls in the category of 'Bimaru' states — a term coined for Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and UP.
Shockingly, while Delhi's mortality rate is just 1.10%, Gujarat has clocked a staggering 18.34%. Only Punjab (21.79 %) and Madhya Pradesh (23.19 %) have a higher death rate, though their death tolls are much lower — 39 and 16, respectively.
What is worrying is that while other states have been able to control the epidemic, the situation is going out of hand in Gujarat because of poor health infrastructure and callousness. During the week from March 18-24, out of 40 swine flu deaths, 20 have been reported in Gujarat.
None of the 44 swine flu patients admitted to hospitals in Delhi died during this week, while 20 out of the 129 patients in Gujarat breathed their last. The reasons are not far to seek.
Modi had tested positive for swine flu in October 2009.
Earlier this week, the Gujarat high court had come down heavily on the Gujarat government's failure in tackling the swine flu epidemic and also its inability to ensure that private hospitals don't turn away H1N1 patients.
Experts say that there is complete lack of coordination in the health department on this issue. Though the state government has sufficient numbers of ventilators lying unused in south Gujarat (used normally to treat leptospirosis epidemic in the region) these have not been shifted to Saurashtra, the epicentre of the H1N1 outbreak. Leptospirosis patients start pouring into Surat's hospitals only during the monsoon.
The health department is not following standard guidelines for screening, and precautions during treatment in isolation wards. As a result, hospitals have become a source of infection.
